Another black man saves the day. By improving elevator safety for the entire country.
Alexander Miles was born in Circleville, Ohio May 18th, 1838. He worked as a barber in Wisconsin inventing hair care products.
Miles moved to Winona, Minnesota in 1870 and where he met his wife Candance J. Dunlap from New York City. A widow with two children. In 1879, Miles relocated his family to Duluth, Minnesota shortly after the birth of their daughter, Grace. He began operating a barbershop in the four-story St. Louis Hotel.
In 1874, many elevator doors and shafts had to be manually operated. During an elevator ride with his daughter grace, he noticed a shaft door left open. There many reported accidents of people falling to their demise due to open elevator shafts.
This inspired Miles to improve elevator safety with an invention.
He designed a flexible belt attachment to the elevator cage. Drums were positioned along the elevator shaft. Directly above and below the floors. Levers and rollers automatically closed the doors when entering the elevator. Doors opened once the elevator reached its designation.
On October 11th, 1887, Miles was awarded U.S. patent 371,207 for Improved Method for Opening and Closing Elevators.
Due to the success of his invention, Miles was known to be the wealthiest African American in the Pacific Northwest region by the time of his death on May 7, 1918. In 2007, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
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